In this unique conglomeration of religious and health rhetoric, the poem seems to reject both inoculation as a medical strategy and inoculation as a rhetorical strategy.

Josh Compton

The Devil and Vaccination and Inoculation Theory: Health Communication, Parody, and Anti-Vaccination Rhetorical Strategy

“The Devil and Vaccination,” a satirical take on Samuel Coleridge’s poem, “The Devil’s Thoughts,” appeared in the July 1879 issue of The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review—a publication that published vaccine-skeptical writings. The poem tells the story of the Devil visiting a prison, encountering several people imprisoned through “just and righteous law,” and then, a father imprisoned for refusing to have one of his children vaccinated. In the present rhetorical analysis, “The Devil and Vaccination” will be viewed through the lens of inoculation theory—a theory more commonly used to guide a social scientific approach to the study of resistance to influence (i.e., experimentally tested messaging effects). In this unique conglomeration of religious and health rhetoric, the poem seems to reject both inoculation as a medical strategy and inoculation as a rhetorical strategy, “supported” by arguments advanced by the Devil.
Keywords: inoculation theory; resistance to influence; rhetorical analysis; parody; vaccination rhetoric; health communication; religious communication

Compton, J. (2021, November). The Devil and Vaccination and inoculation theory: Health communication, parody, and anti-vaccination rhetoric [scheduled paper presentation]. Religious Communication Association, Seattle, WA, United States.